Shutterstock Affiliate Marketing Program Earns High Marks from Top Bloggers

August 12, 2009
Bloggers cite strong revenues from referring subscribers and submitters to Shutterstock
Shutterstock®, the world's largest subscription-based online stock photo agency, is emerging as a leader in one of the key areas for making money online in today’s Web marketplace: affiliate marketing.

As bloggers look for new and effective ways to generate additional revenue online, many are joining Shutterstock’s affiliate marketing program to refer both buyers and submitters of stock images and stock video to Shutterstock.

Lee Torrens, author of Microstock Diaries, one of the leading blogs covering the online stock photo market, describes Shutterstock’s affiliate program as the best revenue producer among the stock photos sites that he recommends.

"In my experience, Shutterstock's affiliate program is the most lucrative of all microstock agencies for bloggers with an audience of photographers," Torrens said. "I know many bloggers and online publishers who are very happy with the amount of extra income that the program generates."

Matt Antonino, author of NiltoMil, another popular online stock photography blog, agrees.

“Shutterstock's affiliate program is the best in the microstock industry and one of the best anywhere,” Antonino said. “New photographers sign up directly from my blog, and Shutterstock takes care of everything else all the way through paying me. I often make more on the affiliate program than I do on sales at other sites.”

Tyler Olson of Microstock Group added, “I think the referral program at Shutterstock is great; it is really one of the best programs of any site.”

Since many bloggers are also photographers who submit photos to Shutterstock, they base their recommendations on the positive experience they have had using the service.

"Shutterstock is among the agencies I recommend to other photographers verbally and in other ways which don't include the incentive of the referral program,” Torrens said. “In addition to the top sales performance, Shutterstock is very business focused, and in my experience has always maintained a high level of professionalism."

Adam Riggs, president and CFO of Shutterstock, invites bloggers to take advantage of Shutterstock’s referral program.

“Whether you’re recommending Shutterstock to stock image buyers or to submitters, Shutterstock has a generous program to thank you for promoting us within your community,” Riggs said.

Here’s how it works: members of Shutterstock’s affiliate marketing program make a commission on every sale they refer. For example, for referring a subscriber who purchases a one-month 25-A-Day membership, referrers will receive a 20 percent commission (up to $50). Bloggers can also earn extra money by referring new Shutterstock submitters. When a customer downloads an image from a submitter they have referred, Shutterstock will pay them three cents for each image downloaded.  While that may not sound like a lot, with thousands of subscribers downloading numerous images a day, those pennies can add up to dollars quickly.

To learn more about how to become a part of Shutterstock’s affiliate marketing program, please visit: http://affiliate.shutterstock.com/

About Shutterstock


Shutterstock is a leading global provider of high-quality licensed photographs, vectors, illustrations and videos to businesses, marketing agencies and media organizations around the world.

Shutterstock works closely with its growing contributor community of photographers, videographers, illustrators and designers to curate a global marketplace for royalty-free imagery. Shutterstock adds tens of thousands of rights-cleared images each week, and with more than 19 million images currently available, the company recently celebrated its 200-millionth image download.

Headquartered in New York City, Shutterstock also owns Bigstock, a value-oriented stock agency that offers both credit and simple Pay As You Go purchase options.

For more information, please visit http://www.shutterstock.com/, and follow Shutterstock on Twitter or on Facebook.



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